present : tense / four

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The return of the toughest creative challenge in town...

present : tense / four
Trafalgar Studios // Sunday 4 March 2006 // 8pm
Tickets £10 // Box Office: 0870 060 6632

Following three thrilling previous outings, present : tense is back with another stellar line-up of top artistic talent taking up the gauntlet.

present : tense challenges some of the UK’s most exciting artists to respond to the most important news story of the moment in just seven days. A group of playwrights, directors, film makers, poets and musicians convene on Sunday 25 February to scour the newspapers for the most significant story on the news agenda. They each have seven days to create a piece of work that responds to the topic they choose. As the news changes, they will be forced to adapt their work, until it is performed for the public exactly one week after they began on Sunday 4 March at Trafalgar Studios.

Throughout the week, you can follow their progress on this blog, where each artist will post daily updates.

present : tense aims to be backlash theatre at its most responsive, offering artists the chance to have their say on the most important issue of the day.

You can read about present : tense / one here.

You can read about present : tense / two here.

You can read about present : tense / three here.

Take a look at the Archives of this blog to see blog posts from past present : tense events.

present : tense is hosted and curated by nabokov. hello!

more links

Gay Bishops wouldn't worry the catholics 
The Independent, 1 March

Blame the Vatican for Italy's latest crisis 
The Independent, 1 March

Clergy must be free spirits
The Times, 27 February

Do you realise Europe is in the throes of a civil war? 
The Times, 27 February

Anglicans appear "obsessed with sex" 
The Mirror, 26 February

So Here's To You, Mr Robinson

Having read this interview with Gene Robinson, the Anglican bishop in an openly gay relationship, I felt like I was starting to figure out a way into this project from a creative point of view. It's not like there's a dearth of things to say about the subject - the question is finding a means of cutting through the morass of possible topics and arriving at a coherent, worthwhile piece of poetry. The interview brought home that this isn't just a dry ecumenical debate - it's people's lives. Bishop Robinson and his partner regularly receive death threats - how anyone could consider themselves Christian whilst sending death threats to a bishop just blows my mind.

The idea that a loving relationship could cause so much fear and hatred has proved something of a catalyst. Most of the poetry I write for performance is comic, but I was desperate not to slip into the easy rhythms of cheap satire or nudge-wink innuendo that characterise my normal output. They'd be an easy disguise to put on here, but I think the brief challenges us to extend ourselves outside of our normal artistic comfort zones. I won't necessarily have produced an excellent poem by the end of the process, but at least I'll have attempted to stretch my range a little bit.

I've written a first draft, provisionally titled 'So Here's To You, Mr Robinson' - it's a dreadful pun, I know, but I couldn't resist. It's character-led rather than opinion-led, but I'm hoping that will strengthen its message rather than detract from it. I've fought through the stirrings of a grim cold to bash out a first draft. In the white heat of creation, I was pretty chuffed - then I got the urge to pick at it, and now I'm unsure whether it works at all. I think I have to accept that this is an experiment, and leave it for at least a day. Hopefully, when I return to it, I'll have gained some critical perspective and I'll be able judge what changes need making or whether I need to start from scratch!

thoughts from Kat

My thoughts were to write a piece, that looked at Homophobia in the black community and especially the church and the historical impact of the legacy of missionary work and the resonace it has on black society today, esepcially as the Carribean and some African countries have such issues dealing with people who do not live a hetrosexual lifestyle.

I find it ironic that this issue may cause a split in the church as it is something they advocated in the first place and still do in many instances.


Been trawling through articles and websites, trying to gather infromation and looking out for anything new in the news, now the joke is to write learn and then perform this piece by Sunday, as well as do my normal stuf, sleep, eat, go to work!
How will this all happen, hell knows, just hope I do not make a fool of myself on Sunday, trying not to doubt my abilities but trust in them.

I may just have to pray.

Kat

KAT'S PROGRESS

Here I am Thursday 1st March, trying to get my head around this project, managed to come up with something do not know if it is decent though, needs some work, but hey I got time. Here goes then,still needs a lot of work, and connection and am I sure a lot more, but I thought I better post something or everyone will think I won't turn up on Sunday. It may not make complete sense but as said it needs binding together and there needs to be a final something to cement the whole piece into one.



“AMAZING GRACE
HOW SWEET THE SOUND
WHICH SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME
I ONCE WAS LOST BUT NOW I’M FOUND song
WAS BIND BUT NOW I SEE”



Manesty's Lane in Liverpool is named after Joseph Manesty who was a slave trader. John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace, worked as a captain on his ships.


First it was not deemed savoury to teach slaves about Christianity,
Better to keep us in the dark rather than enlighten us to the European way of thinking,
There was a fear that we would revolt if we learned to read the word of GOD,
So teaching us was discouraged.
We had our own religions,
Religions, which we tried to keep alive, even in the face of adversity,
Ways traditions, which were important to us. SPEECH
The church benefited greatly from slavery
And many English churches stand proud and tall,
Steeples jutting into the sky,
These buildings
helped to justify the degrading treatment of one man to another,
Christian, Christian there was nothing Christian about our treatment,
We Africans were seen as cursed due to our black skin,
many clergy owned slaves
And filled the coffers of there religious palaces
With the profits of wicked deeds,
stood, chastise and righteous,
In front of congregations,
Hands clasped,
Drinking from the blood of Christ and eating off his body
Preaching tolerance, acceptance
But yet owned slaves toiling under harsh Caribbean sun,
skin cut deep with leather whips,
Criss crossed scars, burning deep into flesh,
Which barely had time to recover?
The religion of the white man was a cruel religion,
A religion, which justified pain and ill treatment,
A religion, which justified the right to uphold one human over another.





BACK BENT IN THE SEARING HEAT
WHICH BEATS DOWN ONTO DARK SKIN,
FINGERS RAW FROM PICKING COTTON,
SWEAT POURS DOWN ONTO A FURROWED BROW,
SIDE BY SIDE,
THEY TOIL,
WOMAN MAN CHILD,
SIDE, BUT SIDE,
THEY TOIL poem
MASSA STANDS BACK,
OVERSEEING
EAGLE EYES EAGER TO PICKOUT ANY WRONG DOING,
WHIP HELD TIGHTLY IN FAT SUASAGE FINGERS
READY TO STRIKE.
GOD DOES NOT LIVE HERE,
HE DOES NOT LIVE IN THE STEEL HEARTS
OF THESE MEN
HE DOES NOT LIVE IN THE SOUL
OF THE MASTERS WIFE
WHO TURNS HER BACK
ON THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS
BODY CLOTHED IN FINE RICH SILKS,
WHILST OTHERS STAND IN RAGS.
HE DOES NOT LIVE IN THE ROUGH WHITE HANDS
WHICH PUSH OPEN BROWN Thighs.
HE DOES NOT LIVE ON THE SLAVERS BLOCK
WHERE FAMIIES ARE RIPPED APART,
SCREAMS OF SEPERATION
PERMEATING THE AIR,
HE DOES NOT LIVE HERE.



“My fellow clergy it is not deemed positive to teach slaves the virtues Christianity or they may begin to harbour high fluted ideas concerning freedom. There are many references in the bible, which support our beliefs that Africans are a cursed species and that their contact with us will be their salvation.

They are heathens, fornicators who believe in sodomy and multiple wives, they are nothing but savages with cannibal tendencies and it is our duty as God fearing people to tame, them tame them all.

Genesis chapter 9: verse 24-27 supports our belief that Africans are sinners and slavery is a punishment for their sin. The Arabs enslaved them many years before we landed on their shores.
The bible says they are the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, who was cursed by the almighty father after looking at his naked form. Moreover, there are multiple references throughout the bible, which support our stance if their inferiority.
The Favorable winds, which assist the slave traders in their voyages from Africa to the Caribbean to

The Americas are again proof that we are blessed with divine right, that we are the savors of Africa, pulling that forsaken land out of the dark ages and bringing it forth into the light.”


WHERAS MANY CLERGY USED RELIGON AS A FORM OF SOCIAL CONTROL.


“It is important that you obey your master, the scriptures implore you to obey your father, your master is your father, and through him you will be rewarded a better life in heaven, through obeying him your race may be able to elevate itself above it’s damned status. Disobey and you will burn in hell, disobey and you will never be rewarded, some people are born to suffer, born to be enslaved your rewards will not be found on this earthly platform but will be bestowed upon you after you have passed on. Do not rebel, do not argue or plot against those who are your masters, do not fornicate or practise sodomy, for you will surely be condoned for such practises.”

MODERN DAY JAMAICA
Men dragged out of hotel rooms,
Boom bye bye batty batty boy,
Batty for dead batty for dead,
Hidden in rooms, no lights
To view a lovers dark skin,
Eyes cannot be seen,
The guilt is hidden
As lovers search for a moment of solace,
Scared they will be dragged from hot beds,
and paraded like lepers through judgemental streets,
Churches line many corners,
Christens and Catholics
They all believe in the Western doctrine,
first Preached from the lips of missionaries
that man should not lay with man.

Boom bye bye batty man for dead batty man for dead,
True feelings hidden under a masculine swagger,
Crotch clutching,
Breast grabbing,
Girl fucking
Hard and fast,
Penis an aggressive weopon.
If discovered
Hard feet connect with soft heads,
Stamping on spines until they snap like brittle twigs,
Punches thrown with venom and hate
Bust thick lips,
Acid Spittle Rains down like harsh showers,
Shame on you,
Shame on your family
Shame on black masculinity.
Boom bye bye, batty man for dead.


“AMAZING GRACE
HOW SWEET THE SOUND
WHICH SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME
I ONCE WAS LOST BUT NOW I’M FOUND song
WAS BIND BUT NOW I SEE”